Hialeah, FL Animal Ordinances: Veterinary Clinic Zoning (2026)

Hialeah treats veterinary practices as an office use rather than a kennel or agricultural use, and where that office can locate depends entirely on the zoning district. Sec. 98-776 explains the RO residential office district exists to buffer residential neighborhoods from busier roadways or more intensive commercial uses by allowing limited professional offices, sometimes inside a building that doubles as a residence. Sec. 98-777(a)(1) lists 'veterinarians' by name in the same professional-services category as physicians, osteopaths, attorneys, chiropractors, nurses, dentists, orthodontists and psychiatrists, meaning a veterinary office is permitted by right on RO-zoned property without a conditional use hearing.

That permission does not carry through every commercial district in the city, though. Sec. 98-973(1)(c), governing the CBD central business district, expressly lists 'medical clinics and veterinary offices' among the uses that are not permitted there. Sec. 98-1023(1)(a), governing the OPS office and professional services district, repeats the identical prohibition word for word: 'medical clinics and veterinary offices' are barred, alongside every other use permitted in the B-1 district and all residential uses. So a veterinary practice that wants to locate in the RO district can do so as of right, but the same use proposed for the CBD or OPS district is a nonstarter until the property is rezoned or the use is relocated to a district where clinics are permitted.